George Will on what the message to migrant children should be: ‘Welcome to America’

posted at 8:41 am on July 28, 2014 by Noah Rothman

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, conservative columnist George Will had some harsh words for those who insist that the waves of migrant children crossing the border from non-contiguous nations in search of asylum.

“We ought to say to these children, ‘Welcome to America, you’re going to go to school and get a job and become Americans,’” Will insisted.

He seemed to suggest that those who advocate for the deportation of South and Central American minors underestimate America’s power to assimilate foreign-born populations.

“We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20 per county,” he added. The idea that we can’t assimilate these eight-year-old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous.”

Fox host Chris Wallace sounded a note of skepticism when he interrupted Will to add that he could sense viewers already sending in angry emails contesting the syndicated columnist’s iconoclastic take on the border crisis. Will countered that the waves of immigrants America took in and assimilated in the 19th Century vastly outnumbered the present influx.

He said that the greatest counter to illegal immigration ever passed by the United States was NAFTA, “which it put the Mexican economy on the road to prosperity.” Will advocated for a similar free trade agreement with Central American countries and a plan to reduce America’s illegal drug consumption in order to arrest the flow of immigrants from unstable countries like Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Will is not the first conservative commentator to take the view that the United States should treat border crossing minors differently from other illegal immigrants.

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, writing in Politico Magazine this month, made a similar case and outlined a logistical framework focused on churches and charities which would facilitate the assimilation of Central American children fleeing violence in their home countries.

A Pendleton base of operations will instantly attract the support and contributions of goods and services from the amazing network of churches in Southern California, just as it did in 1975. Pastor Rick Warrren and Orange County Bishop Kevin Vann need only summon their thousands of colleagues to a meeting and the short-term needs of these children will be met by volunteers bearing toys, food, clothing and English lessons, as well as adult supervision of the best sort. (Pendelton borders Orange County on its north, home to both Warren and Vann. Their San Diego counterparts would no doubt also throw all in.) It would be a giant Vacation Bible School without the Bibles, but it would work.

Likewise, if officials put in charge of assigning adoptees to applicant parents are caring, non-ideological officials, perhaps jointly credentialed by a body jointly selected by House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama, the adoption process will proceed quickly and with little fuss. Children will end up dispersed all across the country. The lucky ones will be in Northeast Ohio where they can become LeBron fans instantly. The less lucky ones will be sent north to Minnesota where the sun doesn’t shine but the Lutherans are welcoming and the State Fair fabulous.

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Just as the amnesty shill George Will is saying they should stay. No, Will is saying that we should put up a huge “Welcome to America” sign. Yeah, that’ll encourage them to stop coming. You look at Fox News and you see it’s totally full of amnesty pushers, no wonder they hired Will.

And btw, as far as the greatest amnesty fighter, Drudge is highlighting Laura Ingraham whose “latest scalp” is hopefully going to be the climate change pushing amnesty shill Lamar Alexander of Tennessee whose primary is on August 7th. Everyone let’s get with it as far as helping her get her next scalp (her last was Eric Cantor!).

Thanks for the well reasoned response. On many issues the folks align with conservative ideas, but many turn away from voting for conservatives. Part of that is the MSM, part is based on their dislike of religious ideas, and part is terrible messaging by the right.

My comment you quoted was in reference to a commenter that was in favour of shooting illegal aliens crossing the border illegally. I did not make that point so my bad.

If I was your average LIV and read Will’s article and then came to HotAir and read some of the comments; I would not be drawn to “conservatism”. Not that any of our comments make a difference, but at election time those type ideas are used against the right.

Years ago I was part of an international incident that hit the press. My part was small, but I got caught up in the whole affair. A crisis management team was brought in and I was lucky enough to work with them. Hey, driving them around and getting coffee and donuts is working with them! They used a hard roll out of the message and seized control. I saw “The medium is the message” from the front row. H/T to Bob Uecker.

They did not do damage control…..they controlled the message. Perception is reality.

I get your point. If the Rs was run by BoxHeads it would not fare well. But in the case of borders, deportations and the current crisis the polls are on the side of the hawks. Will ,and the compassionate set, are going against the popular tide not with it. Will ,and the compassionate set, are going to cause a lot of domestic strife and civil unrest.

We should compassionately and with good will get these kids, teenagers and adults safely back to their home countries. And we NEED to stop allowing them to cross the border in the first place. We are a sovereign state after all.

They did not do damage control…..they controlled the message. Perception is reality.

HonestLib on July 28, 2014 at 3:25 PM

Civilization is a net that covers a howling pit of chaos that is the natural world, the real world. We live on that fragile net, but many people like you come to imagine that the net is the real world. I would love to see the look on your face when you realize that reality is actually reality, and what you perceive is the illusion.

It’s very easy to turn the “compassion” argument around. You simply point out that the “compassionate” types are in effect encouraging kids to cross the desert, and that means more kids will die in the desert.

In case anyone wants to help solve these problems in a low-effort way, just go a search of Twitter for one person making the “compassion” argument or falling for it. Then, make the point in my first paragraph to them. Or, do it in comments sections at Politico, etc. And, encourage those like @NumbersUSA to make that argument. Doing one of those would take just a few minutes at most, and if enough people do it we could discredit the “compassionate” types. If you get objections you can’t answer, cc me and I’ll provide the answers to those objections.

Civilization is a net that covers a howling pit of chaos that is the natural world, the real world. We live on that fragile net, but many people like you come to imagine that the net is the real world. I would love to see the look on your face when you realize that reality is actually reality, and what you perceive is the illusion.

DFCtomm on July 28, 2014 at 3:50 PM

someone’s been reading way too much Thomas “nasty brutish and short” Hobbes.

It’s very easy to turn the “compassion” argument around. You simply point out that the “compassionate” types are in effect encouraging kids to cross the desert, and that means more kids will die in the desert.

24AheadDotCom on July 28, 2014 at 5:06 PM

Yes much more compassionate to stick a gun in their face and tell them to crawl right back across the desert, mach schnell!

I agree with Will. We are a large nation and can assimilate these kids and the adults who came with them. It doesn’t excuse Obama and his dereliction of duty, but these kids are risk takers, like immigrants before them. It’s two separate issues. Don’t punish these people because Obama is an odious man.

“We ought to say to these children, ‘Welcome to America, you’re going to go to school and get a job and become Americans,’” Will insisted.

And i say “Welcome to America! Now you’ve seen it, turn around and git!”

Sorry, I’m not paying one thin dime for trepassing minors when our own native sons and daughers’ birthrights, along with the legally naturalized sons and daughters, are stolen by those who would usurp our laws — as well as the laws of any oter nbation on this earth.

Sometimes I wonder, what are we gaining by not making an immigration reform deal? I can’t think of any other way to finish the fortified fence. In the meantime, they’re still coming, and they’re going to keep coming. Just saying No isn’t working.

I can’t believe how stupid the Republicans are. Where do people think wages are going to go with all of these undereducated, unskilled immigrants who will do one of two things, either take jobs at lower pay, or live off the system. Either way, they’re a drain off society.

I believe we can start to deal with this by enacting a law that forces employers to only hire legal people. By fining them substantial amounts of money if they try to break the law, which will put them out of business, that’s the only way the people hiring illegals will listen.

Once we get that out of the way, and you have to pay full price, you’ll start looking for educated workers with skills which will make employment tough. It’s not cruel to do this, by hiring skilled, educated workers, Americans who are unemployed will be able to get jobs. The point is, the Obama voters supporting this don’t understand the problems they’re creating and someone needs to point it out to them. By passing laws the make it next to impossible to hire illegals, we can do a lot towards strengthening our borders.

Yes much more compassionate to stick a gun in their face and tell them to crawl right back across the desert, mach schnell!

Tlaloc

Amnesty fans have no valid argument whatsoever, so they have to mislead as Tlaloc does there. It wouldn’t be difficult to find my Glenn Beck post where I go through the downsides of being “compassionate” in this case: more border deaths not fewer, etc. In the same post I link to a non-profit that helps border kids stay in CentAm, and I’ve repeatedly linked to on Twitter and once at this site another such program:

Sometimes I wonder, what are we gaining by not making an immigration reform deal? I can’t think of any other way to finish the fortified fence. In the meantime, they’re still coming, and they’re going to keep coming. Just saying No isn’t working.

cimbri

All of the amnesty promoters mislead, outright lie, or engage in illogical arguments. For instance, they’ll claim there’s a shortage even though wages are flat or falling and ~92 million are out of the labor force.

Yet, few others are willing to show how those people are wrong to those taken in by them. For just one example of hundreds I could offer, @michaelpaulson of the NYT recently wrote about religious groups’ efforts to “help” border kids. He quoted 12 people, none of whom opposed those groups’ efforts. That’s clearly bad journalism, yet no one besides me and a couple of others are calling him on it.

Forcing better coverage from him would send a message to other NYTers, and the NYT feeling forced to change their coverage would have a very healthy impact. What the NYT says doesn’t have much pull around here, but it does have pull with the elites. And, this problem starts with the elites.

“We ought to say to these children, ‘Welcome to America, you’re going to go to school and get a job and become Americans,’” Will insisted.

We do tell people welcome to America – when they come here legally. I swear everything is backwards these days. I think 1984 should have been titled 2014. The politicians, media and elites no longer care about American citizens. If the countries south of the border are to improve, it has to come from the citizens of those countries and that won’t happen if they leave. They will bring the voting habits and beliefs that ruined their country and try the same thing here.

As far as becoming Americans, that is not the goal of La Raza and other open borders proponents. The goal is to take over America, just go to any amnesty rally and count the number of American flags and the number of Mexican flags.

Our schools are overcrowded and poorly run and George wants to make the situation worse. And where is all the money going to come from to educate these illegal aliens?

Americans are out of work or working two part time jobs to make ends meet and George wants to add more job seekers or welfare recipients.

Finally, if any American parent sent their 8 year old child off to hobo their way across country, child services would arrest the parents and take the child. However, parents sending their children across countries are to be rewarded with citizenship, because there is no doubt in my mind that once the children are settled the parents will be allowed to come live with them.

If these families are paying coyotes $10,000 a head to bring their *children* into the US, it must be because getting here is going to be very lucrative for the family.

When you look at what the annual salaries are, in internation dollar (equivalent to $1 American) in these countries, $10,000 is an astronomical amount. But to an illegal, if their *children* make it here alive, it’s an investment in free, generational, family benefits or seed money to set up the *children* in the drug hauling business.
Costa Rica $4624
Ecuador $4776
El Salvador $1096
Guatamala $2998
Honduras $2457
None of them want to become Americans, like our fore-bearers did, they already have a country. They want to become Americans to latch themselves and their families onto the American teat…an investment worth risking the lives of their *children*.

Sometimes I wonder, what are we gaining by not making an immigration reform deal? I can’t think of any other way to finish the fortified fence. In the meantime, they’re still coming, and they’re going to keep coming. Just saying No isn’t working.

cimbri

All of the amnesty promoters mislead, outright lie, or engage in illogical arguments. For instance, they’ll claim there’s a shortage even though wages are flat or falling and ~92 million are out of the labor force.

24AheadDotCom on July 28, 2014 at 8:46 PM

I agree with your arguments, but I’m still wondering – how are we going to get the fortified fence finished? What if that was made as part of the deal to give amnesty to the people already here. I haven’t heard a single conservative say the illegals are going to be deported, so why not get something of huge value in return for officially letting them stay.

I repeat, they are going to keep coming, whether there is “reform” or not. Just being against amnesty isn’t going to stop the flow.

What if that was made as part of the deal to give amnesty to the people already here.
cimbri on July 28, 2014 at 10:36 PM

Worse thing you can do. Amnesty and chain immigration will kill the country and ensure exponentially more illegal aliens. The promise of amnesty is what is fueling the invasion! Amnesty should never, ever be on the table or used as a bargaining chip.

Wow! It’s amazing how many of those “…eight-year-old criminals with their teddy bears…” are over 20 years-old and have MS 13 tats.
George Will should stand up NOW!!! and offer to take in 20 of these “kids” into his own home. You know, do his part for his county and his country.
Hey! George! 20 Illegal squatters are no sweat for you, right? Just open your garage door and let them in. You have announced the number of squatters you will allow in your county and have offered to take them all in. Good Luck!

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, conservative columnist George Will had some harsh words for those who insist that the waves of migrant children crossing the border from non-contiguous nations in search of asylum.

The third-grade level writing continues at HA.

Do you realize this incomplete sentence makes no sense, Noah? Do any of you HA writers check your work? Do even have an editor who checks it before you Post?

And they are not “migrant children”, they are illegal aliens. Why don’t you go write for Politico or some other leftist rag more suited to your ideology? HA becomes more of a joke every week.

Will says: “We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20 per county.”

Are we going to distribute these kids evenly to every county in the US? Seems like most of these kids are going to red states right now…possibly to turn them more blue in the future?

Where will these kids stay when they get to each county? Will they be taken in by good samaritins? Be wards of the state? Who will pay for their food, shelter, clothing, school, and other necessities? Who will pay for the increase in cost/student due to the fact that none of these kids will speak English?

What about the older kids who are gang affiliated? Are we just evenly spreading out MS-13 recruiters to every county in the US?

These “kids” should be sent back to their countries of origin, even if that means paying their airfare home. Our government should make sure that the originating countries have adequate programs to make sure that these kids end up back with their families where they came from.